


What is the cost of lies

by BadassBrigadier



Category: Chernobyl (HBO)
Genre: Bittersweet, M/M, eventual something between those two, legasov is very moody, thoughts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-29
Updated: 2019-05-29
Packaged: 2020-03-29 08:53:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19016572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BadassBrigadier/pseuds/BadassBrigadier
Summary: What is the cost of lies, anyway? Ten? Hundred? Thousands of people? No. It is not right.And so here you are, flying to the epicentre of all this madness.





	What is the cost of lies

At first you thought Shcherbina to be a self-righteous pig. Parroting all this nonsense about everything being under control. 3.6 roentgen. Of course it wasn’t under control. But no, there cannot be a mistake in this land of ours. But if you keep silent when you have a chance, many people will die because of lies. What is the cost of lies, anyway? Ten? Hundred? Thousands of people? No. It is not right. 

And so here you are, flying to the epicentre of all this madness.   
“How does a nuclear reactor work?” As if it is time and place for a physics lesson. And yet.. Surprisingly he listens. And then he doesn’t. The need to see it for himself, the need for affirmation. What if it didn’t explode, what if this is only a leak? Perhaps there’s still hope for all of them? But here you see graphite. You should never have seen graphite anywhere near the outside of a reactor. So it is death then. Death that awaits, far sooner and far more wicked than you thought. And it stares at you from the open reactor core, breathing out its invisible poison. 

And on the site, there’s even more lies. When do you learn, that your own hide is more important than everything else?   
“You say that comrade Legasov is wrong. How do we prove it?” And here the search for a scapegoat begins. But how can you disprove of something that is obvious? The general returns with a grim face.  
“12000 Roentgen”  
A strange sense of finality washes over you. It did happen then. The core is open. And here they are.   
Suddenly everything speeds up. Suddenly you are not the one who lies or exaggerates. You are the one who has the look of “I told you so”. But you would give everything so that you could be wrong. 

And now you have to stop the fire. To hell with fire, the people are still here. The people must be evacuated. And yet, your only work is fire. If Shcherbina was listening before, he isn’t anymore. Apparently the fire is what comes first. To hell with people.

The town of Pripyat is still bustling with life. The life goes on. And it is terrifying. And so you take a drink at the hotel bar.   
“Superstitious?” Superstitious that we are all standing underneath the ladder that is dripping radiation, that we all just broke a mirror which shattered into millions and trillions of invisible bullets that are hitting our bodies at this very moment, superstitious that the black cat made of smoke and radioactive ash just ran across our lifes? Oh yes. And so you nod. 

“Is there anything wrong?” Where do you even start? Everything. Everything is wrong around here. But you can only shake your head.   
And here it is. The moment that you lie. What is the cost of lies anyway?  
TBC

**Author's Note:**

> If you managed to read until the end. thank you. I have never written anything serious, so it is new. If you have ideas or promts, please tell me.


End file.
